Daughter of Wine

Callida

A new wave of energy surges through me. The giant shrimp monster clearly didn't appreciate the Greek Fire, because it slinks back under the ocean. But that's not what I'm worried about. 

I pull myself up and stumble to the edge of the ship. 

"Leo!" I scream. "Hazel! Frank!" 

No response. Just the waves lapping against the ship. 

"Leo!" I scream again, louder. 

Annabeth runs over to my side. "They went overboard?" 

I nod desperately. My heart is pounding worse than when the Shrimpzilla attacked. Three of my friends have gone overboard. Sure, I'm incredibly angry with Leo, but I'd like the pleasure of killing him myself. If he drowns, I'm only going to feel bad for him. 

That's a lie. I don't want him dead at all. But I feel so hurt. I mean, I was going to talk to him. I was going to tell him how I feel. And now he's gone. He hasn't resurfaced, and he can't breathe underwater. 

"Calli, we need your help with repairs." Annabeth talks to me gently. "Can you stand?"

I realize I'm gripping the rail so tightly with my arms, that it seems like I'm still standing. But my legs have gone limp. 

Tentatively, I stretch them. "Yeah." My voice is raspy from screaming. "Leo-"

"We're looking." She assures me. "But the ship is flooding," She blushes in embarrassment, "and you know more than I do about how to fix it."

I nod. "Okay. Yeah." I turn and look at the overwhelming amount of damage that the shrimp thing did. "Wow." I walk to the hull, my body moving as if it knows what to do automatically. I press a few buttons and call into the intercom. "Buford, could you come here please?"

The little mahogany table bounds up the stairs, followed by Percy. Annabeth runs over to him and murmurs. He looks panicked, and jumps into the water. I give Buford some instructions to fix some things above deck, then find myself heading down to the second floor, where Festus indicates there's a leak. I can't understand his clicking like Leo can, but he lights up a map of the ship for me, with a nice red dot where the leak is. A fun little game of Pictionary for me to figure out. 

I head down to the second floor, expecting a small hole, but there's water rushing in from the storage room. 

I can't help but sigh. I feel so useless right now. Sure, I'm the only one who can fix the ship if Leo is gone, but the best I can do is get it in non-sinking condition. Without him, it'll take me a week to figure out how to get it flying again. Maybe five days if Annabeth helps. Either way, that's not enough time to get us to Rome to save Nico. 

My heart aches. I can't tell if I'm angry, sad, or relieved. I want to burst into tears, punch Leo in the nose, and laugh my ass off all at the same time. I mean, I'd wondered if something was going on with Leo and Hazel. Now I know. I do feel a little relieved that the truth is out. But it doesn't make me feel better. Besides, it doesn't matter if they're dead. 

I get to work on the hole. It's actually less of a hole and more of a crack. I patch it with spare parts we have, very helpfully, here in the storage room. I board up the big part of the crack and fill smaller cracks with some waterproof caulk, which is surprisingly easy to apply. I try and think about how Leo would fix it, and I think I do a pretty good job, all things considered. I head back up to the helm to the control panel, and hit the drain button for the second floor. Down below, I can hear the water being sucked down some drains on the floor. 

Easy peasy, right? I look up at the night sky. I don't know how I'm still standing right now. But I am. I need to keep it together, for the sake of my friends. The second I lose it, the second everyone else loses it. I don't mean that in a self-centered way. If I lose my cool, I could genuinely drive everyone on the ship crazy. That would not work out well for us. 

I sit with Piper and Annabeth as they send a dream vision to Camp Half-Blood, warning Chiron. I try to chime in and help warn them, but I can't get my heart in it. I'm too worried about everything. All I want to do is sit and stare blankly at the wall. Which I end up doing. 

I sit down on a barrel and stare at the stairs down to the bunks. I don't know how long I sit and stare, but I manage to clear my mind and  just think of nothing. It honestly feels pretty good.

"You should sleep." Annabeth tells me gently. "You're exhausted." 

I shake my head, as if in a trance. "Can't sleep." 

"Why?"

I shrug. "I'll lay in bed and stare at the ceiling."

"Here." She hands me a tiny square of ambrosia. "I know you used a lot of your powers today. I know you're pretty tired. Just... eat that, and go to bed. Please." 

"Yeah," I shrug, popping the little square in my mouth. "Okay." 

I stumble back to my bunk, my stomach rumbling. I ignore it. I don't feel hungry. I just want to lay down now. 

I barely remember my head even hitting the pillow before I fall asleep.